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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I’ve had occasion to tell this story a few times on my trip, soperhaps it is of general interest. I promise it ties back to China!

When Daphne was born, she was the first baby on either Rosie’s or myside of the family, and as such, she was admired by all the adults inher life (myself included) with an intensity somewhere betweenadoration and worship. At family gatherings, she would sit in themiddle of the fawning adults, sucking on a teething ring and soakingin the attention with relish. She thought that she was the center ofthe universe, and why not? All the external evidence in her lifesuggested that this was the case. Look, I’ve known some really nice,well adjusted "only children," but I’ve met a pretty high percentageof them that never deviated from the core set of beliefs that werebeing inadvertently learned by Daphne at that stage.Of course, you know the rest of the story. Rosie and I put a stop toher little gravy train by quickly producing James. As for most newlysibling-ed children, it was a bumpy transition for Daphne, as shediscovered that her universe suddenly had at least two gravitationalcenters. And soon afterward that the other gravitational centerseemed to like poking her, getting his way, grabbing her stuff.This is what I was thinking about today as I toured the “ForbiddenCity.” It is seriously impressive in both its scope and detail, bothof which you can get a sense of from this picture overlooking thepalace complex (friends Jenifer and Alison also pictured).There are so many palatial dwellings that an emperor set aside one ofthem specifically for, and I kid you not, “Doing Nothing.”

So back to my kids – imagine that instead of providing a sibling toshatter Daphne’s natural perception of entitlement, we provided herwith unlimited resources, a couple square miles of buildings and staffto attend to her, and told her that, in fact, she was a god.

Isn’t that basically what happened with a bunch of Chinese emperors?Extensive, MBA level research (OK, one or two Google searches) turnedup that kids as young as two were crowned the lord of all they couldsee. Do you see any potential mental health issues there?

Hey, I understand that when these very young emperors ascended to thethrone it was a move on their relatives’ part to maintain power, butstill, you see my point, right?

One of the topics that has been coming up in both our class andinformal discussions regarding possible futures of China is theone-child policy. Apparently, due to a combination of incessantlydoting parents and relatives and limited exposure to the severepoverty from which the previous generation emerged, many of the latestgeneration of Chinese youth expect to be taken care of, and well. Italked to a Chinese mother today who said that she “Can never say noto her daughter,” and though it was said with a hint of a joke, themessage was clear – their roles were set a long time ago and weren’tgoing to change now, even if that meant the mother was still showingup to clean and cook on a regular basis for what should have been anindependent woman in her late 20s.

In other areas of Chinese life, factory workers are becoming much lesssatisfied, and expect to be treated more deferentially by theirbosses, in stark contrast to the previous generation who were merelygrateful to be employed. This trend seems to be a contributing factorin the rapidly increasing wage demands and perhaps even the wave ofsuicides seen in some Chinese based facilities over the past severalmonths. When you think about it, it’s one of the grandest socialexperiments ever created: We’re about to find out what havoc,creativity, and individuality an entire generation of relativelyaffluent "only children" can unleash on the world.

Oh and by the way, the kids that fit the description above have anickname in China: “Little Emperors.”

One more thing – has “forbidden” ever been a bigger misnomer in thehistory of massive tourist attractions? How about the "FormerlyForbidden City" instead?Love from Beijing,

Monday, June 28, 2010

You might rightly expect me to list the interesting and culturallyrelevant activities. Indeed, there is a natural flow of sharing“vacation” photos and stories that focuses on the externalities of theexperience. Though they are the focus of our discussions and plans,are these objects and locations really the reason for travel?

That was a rhetorical question, don't actually answer it. I'm on a roll here.

No, the externalities of travel are what we talk about, and arenecessary to the story (don’t worry, I won’t forget to work them in!)but the reason that people enjoy travel is fundamentally different. Ithink people who enjoy travel do so to experience personal growth andchange. This has been somewhat of a theme throughout my blog duringthis trip, the question of whether someone else’s travel is inherentlyinteresting or not. I wonder how much of what makes somethingvicariously interesting has to do with how deeply the story teller hasbeen moved. Often the stories we remember and have the most impact onre-telling are small in scope – an interaction with a street vendorcan resonate more than a visit to a wonder of the ancient world.

One of which, by the way, I visited yesterday (Sunday).Hey, don’t get me wrong, but I couldn’t help but get the feeling as Iascended up the long set of stairs to reach the famous fortificationthat I was only the latest in a line stretching into history ofmillions of people wanting to check this item off their life’s list ofthings to do, and I felt grateful. It truly was a wonder.But what is not pictured and is much harder to explain is thecumulative effect that my time here is shaping my internal landscapes. How can one visit the “The Temple of Heaven”or the silk and pearl market (note – standard rule is to offer 1/10 ofthe asking price and move up about 5% from there. Ah, haggling. I’dforgotten how much I enjoy it.)and remain unchanged in some small way

These many small changes, but when taken as a group they are what makeit hard and sometimes tedious to answer the “how was your trip”questions once the traveler returns.

And to be sure, the time that I’ve spent in this remarkable, evershifting China, combined with the experience of traveling alone andthen with a amiable, surprising, and diverse group of peers, haschanged me in numerous small ways. It is amazing what capacity travelhas to make me feel like a tourist in my own heart and mind inparallel with the alien world I have been exploring. I hope you allstill like me when I get back!

PS – Yes, I am also learning things about supply chain management andmarketing strategy, if you were wondering.PSS – I guess what it all boils down to is molding a well-mannered imagination.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I've tried to write this blog with a very simple presupposition: Thefact that I'm in China is not in and of itself, noteworthy. To thatend, I've tried to share things that I felt were of general interest,or perhaps had nuggets of potentially enlightening observations aboutcultural differences, or failing all else, were just funny.

The last few days in Guangzhou were extremely fun, but sadly, not muchhas risen above the general fray to be “blog-worthy," as they prettymuch just demonstrate the already obvious fact that - "Pete is inChina."

Sure I may have taken a walk in the middle of a raging Typhoon(buddies Josh and Mark pictured),Gotten my head massaged within an inch of my life (I may have actuallylost a years worth of education during this session)Played Foosball with some delighted and giggling Chinese store clerks:and visited a Chinese art museum,but the overall significance of these events is minimal, other thanthat my internal stress meter has been slowly but steadily decliningas the week rolls on.

Really the most interesting and satisfying thing in the last week hasbeen getting to know the people. This week has proved the generalrule that the easiest way to coalesce a diverse group into a cohesiveand friendly unit is to put them in a situation where theirsimilarities are far more apparent than their weaknesses. A cliche?Perhaps, but if you're criticizing this blog at that level then yourexpectations are too high!

Miss you all back home, and I'll report back on a very interestingfirst day in Beijing soon. Here's my new friend Fiona and I preppingfor Beijing on the bus ride to the airport. First person to commentwith an observation of what's wrong with this picture gets a prize.Pete

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Today was quite a bizarre day, and I think I need to blog about itjust to help me digest the information. And if it helps me digestsome of the Chinese food that's currently gurgling around my stomach,so much the better.

But first, the mundane. The day started with not one, not two, butTHREE case studies. For those of you who aren't familiar with thisstandard business school teaching tool, a case study is like acombination of a story that doesn't have an ending, with a problemthat doesn't have an answer. My tolerance for case studies is prettylimited (about two per week is my maximum allowable dose) which isprobably why I spent a good deal of the morning staring straight aheadinto space, feeling my mental gears grinding. Thankfully by the endof the lecture, the gears meshed and I gained a firm grasp of theobvious. By stating the same in a thoughtful way, I notched myparticipation credit for the day. To my delight, the lecture endedwith the staple of business school diagrams: a box divided intoquadrants with non-quantitative axises. As a scientist, it alwaysstrikes me that while there's something useful about organizinginformation this way, it is also deeply silly. For your enjoymentI've prepared an example chart:Anyway, on to bigger and better things. Our next stop was theGuangzhou Children and Women's Hospital, located here in the city.Whatever you are imagining about what a hospital in China might looklike, this was NOT it. Brand new. Spotless. State of the art. I wasblown away. Other than the fact that we were the only white people inthe facility (moving in a clumsy, chattering pack, much to the dismayof the nurses) you would swear you were in the United States. Also,babies are cute in any country. Since no one would put up with themif they weren't, I suppose it is a cross-cultural necessity. Here'sme kissing a particularly large one:The hospital tour combined with observations of their state of the artpublic transit, sparkling and utterly smooth new freeways, andinnumerable skyscrapers being simultaneously erected brought home adepressing point for me today: China is kicking our butts.Seriously, when's the last time a large new building went up inPortland? What major upgrades are we doing for our infrastructure?Where will our scientists and engineers for the next 50 years comefrom, as the number of home grown graduates in those fields continuesto diminish? Sigh.... Maybe I should have enrolled Daphne in aMandarin immersion school.

Bleak musings aside, the hospital president was a friend of our tripfacilitator, Linda, and he invited us to eat dinner at his expenseafter the tour was complete. I can honestly say that it was the bestcafeteria-style Chinese meal I've ever eaten in the basement of achildren's hospital, regardless of the continent. It was pretty good,actually, though I ate far too many "Li-Chees" (a grapish fruit with ahard spiky red shell).Finally, the president of the hospital invited us to a concert at theGuangzhou symphony hall, again on his dime. Always suckers for freeentertainment, we of course obliged. Oddly (cool-ly?) our seats wereBEHIND the orchestra, giving us a unique vantage point on the music.Though Guangzhou may be kicking our butts in construction andinfrastructure, I'm happy to report that they still haven't caught upto the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Many of the players (maybe ashigh as 30%) looked to be just kids, 25 or younger. While theycertainly were not bad, there were obvious problems with both pitchand time throughout, which really surprised me. Also, I saw somethingthat I have never seen before outside of a kids piano recital. Theconductor, a pompous and spastic chap of 30 years, was openly peevedwhen a small child started crying and had to be removed from theaudience. His response? He stopped the orchestra (maybe 90 secondsinto the song), and stared at the now empty exit where the shamedparent and offspring had fled. After satisfying himself that theoffending child would not return, he gave a disdainful and showy shakeof the head and RESTARTED the song from the beginning. What makesthis especially distasteful is the fact that the entire concert was acharity fund raiser to support medical treatment of...

The next performer on the agenda was solo pianist, MR. OBAMA! Ok, itwas Mark Obama the president's half brother who lives in Shenzen, aregion close to Guangzhou and Hong Kong. This did not stop him fromcarrying himself in quite a presidential if awkward way, possibly dueto the fact that in all of his promotional material and in person heis never seen without a jaunty half-bandana around his head. He wasquite a good piano player, and pounded through several reallyhard-sounding Rachmaninoff sonatas in a competent if somewhat choppyfashion, but the whole thing was a little weird. Is he a celebrity?If so, was he famous in this region before his half-brother ascensionto the throne of American politics?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Obama#Mark_Ndesandjo

The final performer of the night was a truly world class piano playerfrom Shanghai who's command of the instrument was mesmerizing, ifuninteresting to report. I can't find his name at the momentunfortunately, but he did win the international piano competition puton every year by Julliard, and has been a guest soloist with the NewYork Philharmonic among other things.

Anyway, after the concert, due to our connection with the hospitalpresident, we got to meet Mr. Obama, who advised us somberly to "learnthe language of these people, and perhaps do some volunteer work,"which he then followed up with "AND VISIT MY WEBSITE! IF YOU WRITE MEAN EMAIL, I'LL GET BACK TO YOU SOON!" The whole thing was... justvery weird. I haven't quite put my finger on it but there wassomething that I wasn't quite grasping about the situation somethingperhaps unseemly about the way the Chinese were kowtowing to him,hoping for influence in the white house or something. Or maybe wejust don't have enough social protocol built up around how to treatpiano-playing-presidential-half-brothers-living-in-southern-china.

Oh, and one more thing. Before the concert I'm about 95% sure we sawa severed human hand in the river.Good night everyone!

Monday, June 21, 2010

The "blog" for me is a fundamentally frustrating form of expression,which is probably why I don't do it much. I find myself bursting withobservations and stories, humorous and otherwise, that Isimultaneously want to share, but would not be comfortable witheveryone in my life reading. I don't keep a regular blog for thesame reason that I don't keep a diary - it can only come back to hauntyou.

So anyway, one of the things that I enjoyed most about traveling alonelast week was a freeing ability to express to you (the folks backhome) what I was thinking in a moderately unfiltered way. It wasexceedingly unlikely that the chef who served me tacos instead ofquesadillas will ever know that he was exposed as a mexican-culinaryfraud on my webpage, especially since it's banned in China.

Now that I'm back where I belong, as one member in a herd of awkwardand befuddled Americans instead of an isolated case, my postings mustnecessarily become a little more reporting and a little lessreflective. Why am I typing all this? Probably because it's nearlymidnight and my stomach is doing backflips after a delicious butexotic chinese meal, and also because I don't really plan thesewritings, they mostly just spill out of my brain when I sit down atthe computer. Pretty much like writing a term paper, now that I thinkabout it.

So anyway, today was our first day of class, in Guangzhou. Asrequired, a humorous english/chinese miscue leads off the day:After a morning of lecture on supply chain basics, we headed off totour one of Guangzhou's major ports, which while interesting, was alot smaller than I thought it would be:Ha!

Ok, visual gags aside, here is my roommate Rajeev and me out by thecontainer-crane-lifting things at the full size version.Finally, here's a portion of the herd as we take in the city from anighttime harbor cruise.The students I've met have been very nice. The course work isenlightening and practical. The resulting blogs are quite bland.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Hi again, and thanks to everyone who's commented on my writings so far - it helps me feel more connected to home to share some of my experiences.

A few months ago, one of my professors offered the following question as an icebreaker: "What would you do with a free Saturday?" Addressed to a room full of MBA students most of whom had families and all of whom had full time jobs, this question went over like the proverbial lead balloon.

And yet, today it happened! Sure, I was in Lianyungang, in the Jiangsu province of China. Sure I don't speak a lick of Mandarin (well I can say "hello" and "thank you" I suppose). But still, it wasSaturday. And with work done for the week, class work already prepped, and house/yardwork a geographical impossibility, I was Free!

As I ate breakfast, I pondered my choices. As best I could tell, my options were:

1. mope around the hotel all day, watching movies on the edited-for-Asia version of HBO and catching up on world cup highlights.

2. Do something culturally enriching. Visit a museum, or just find out more about why Lianyungang is here at all and what historical intrigue it might be able to offer.

3. Find out if there was a golf course around, and try to play it. Those of you who know me well have no doubt which option prevailed.

At that point, since I've been blogging quite a bit (for me), I started framing the "golf" blog in my mind. I'd find some podunk little course, probably all 80 yard par 3s with the flag in the middleof the fairway, and we'd all have a gentle laugh at earnest efforts of this Chinese semi-backwater city's attempts to emulate western luxury. Things started out according to plan, as the concierge seemed to never have heard of golf before, and it took a conference of about 5 people to finally write an address down on a card for me to hand to a taxi driver. The hotel employee's broken English comment as I left - "I very sorry. Golf new."

So imagine my surprise when I showed up and saw a championship level golf course 15 minutes outside of downtown.

The cab dropped me off at what I later figured out was the driving range and not the clubhouse, which led to mass confusion and another large huddle, with maybe seven people were involved in trying to figure out what I was there for. I'm getting pretty good at causing these conferences. Every once in a while they would come to a consensus and try something. They tried to give me range balls. They tried to give me a golf lesson. A little girl said "yellow" to me about a dozen times before I figured out enough to say "hello" back and ask her name. Finally, after I had pantomimed about 3 holes worth of golf swings, and pointed excitedly to the course itself, thendragged some of the clubs available for rent toward a golf cart, we came to an understanding. Not only am I getting good at causing a scene I also am developing a knack for amusing these people with my "large clumsy smiling white guy" routine.

And so, the golf blog I had already composed in my head was summarily dismantled, as I played the most challenging, well maintained golf course I have ever encountered. I won't get into any golf details (even my wife would be bored by that. Well, especially my wife I guess!), but suffice it to say that I was chastened and humbled, but had a GREAT time. It may be the only time in my life that I play a course that nice, am the ONLY person playing, and have a cart and an actual caddy (Wu Tin, more about her later). Given that my google search of "lianyungang golf" turned up 0 hits, it was a pretty amazing result. I thought this picture captured something interesting about the aggressive building and taste for western luxury that I have seen in Lianyungang in general during my stay here.

One thing that I've learned in China (especially in the airports and hotels) so far is that the entire service industry is composed of 18-22 year old women, standing behind podiums saying "I don't know sir" and directing you to yet another girl behind a different podium, one after another until you finally give up in despair. These girls are accustomed to being harangued and harassed, and as a general rule look to be 50% bored and 50% miserable at all times. As a matter of survival in the airports, I learned that by simply smiling at them, and treating them like human beings, these service industry ball bearings suddenly became very helpful. Anyway, back to Wu Tin, mycaddie. For a few holes she was too scared to even talk to me, but after considerable effort (I probably called her a seven iron or something, trying to guess her name), we established knowledge of each other's names. Next we began exchanging the occasional high-five orbummed out shake of the head (more head shaking than high-fiveing today I'm afraid) after a particularly notable shot. Near the end of the round, she stopped the cart and held up one finger in the universal sign for "I'll be right back" and ran into the bushes. I assumed she was relieving herself and pondered my next shot. When she came back, however, her hands and caddie-apron were full of fruit! She had run into the rough lining the course and picked us a snack!

It was not a round I will soon forget, and I hope that Wu Tin had a good story to share with her caddie buddies as well. I get the feeling big goofy white American guys aren't real regular customers at this establishment.

As fun as all this was though, the next "free Saturday" I get I want to spend with my wife and kiddos. Two more weeks to go until home. Tomorrow I head down to Guangzhou to start my first week of classes.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Against all odds, I made it out of Beijing yesterday and arrived inthe coastal port city of Lianyungang last night around 10:30. Totaltime in transit, 46 hours. Needless to say I slept pretty well lastnight!

I won't bore you with the details of my factory visit, other than toshow you the sign they put up in my honor (these never fail to bothflatter and amuse me)

but I will indulge in my first story in the "Oh those crazy Chinese,what won't they eat next!?" genre.

After our business concluded for the day, the owner of the factoryasked me if I liked sea food. How does one handle a question likethis? I suppose if I had been feeling sneaky and a little less brave,I could have begged off on account of extreme fatigue, or other plansbut instead I heard myself saying this damning phrase: "I loveseafood!"

And so, off we went for the most authentic and fresh Chinese styleseafood lunch you could ever hope for. On the way it was revealedthat they had offered the same opportunity to my boss (he visitedseveral weeks ago) but he was not able to make it due to his travelschedule. Uh huh. I could almost hear him belly laughing at me fromacross the pacific at my lack of foresight in avoiding this situation.

So here's how it worked. We drove to the harbor, which appearedsickly and heavily polluted. Along the road were severalhouses/seafood stands, each with an array of water tanks in fronthousing live seafood. We stopped at one and my host proceeded topoint to a wide variety of squirming creatures as the rest of us wereescorted upstairs. I could tell that this was a real treat for them,and it was a pretty cool concept. Doesn't get any fresher than that,right?

So I did fine with the whole-body shrimp (kind of crunchy with thelegs and everything), and honestly the mussels were about the bestI've ever had. So after an odd but satisfying meal of shrimp andmussels I was ready to move on. Unfortuantely we were on course 2 outof 7, and things did not improve from there.

The highlight - I asked our translator, Shen, what was in the saladthat I was eating, some kind of green peppers mixed with a thinlysliced pink meat. She looked at me with a face that indicated hervocabulary was failing her, and said "Creatures of the Sea." LuckilyI figured it out. See those pink things? Worm salad.

Anyway, that was 6 or 7 hours ago and I don't feel any food poisoningsetting in, so hopefully I escaped unscathed, and let the record showthat I tried every darn dish that came in front of me. At any rate Iwas glad to request the "western" menu at the hotel restaurant tonightand ordered a couple of bland things to settle my stomach and mypallet. I started with a bowl of minestrone (which I don't rememberhaving a sweet & sour base before), and "Quesedilla"

Why am I still in Bejing, you might be wondering? Shouldn’t I betouring a factory in Lianyungang RIGHT NOW?

Well.

Let’s just say I got to see the dull dairy-cow staring en masstoday/yesterday as all my co-passengers and I were herded to and frolike so many cattle. What started out as a simple little 11 hourjaunt from Vancouver to Bejing turned into a 23 hour oddessey, 25hours if you count the delays before we even got on the plane inVancouver. I won't go chapter and verse, but I'll hit the mostamusing highlights from a highly unusual plane trip.

1. In Vancouver, our flight was delayed for 2 hours due to"non-functional water closets on the left of the plane," leading me tocrack wise - "Can the plane lift it's left wing? Maybe it's having astroke!" No noticeable chuckles. from my traveling companions, thoughin my defense most of them didn't speak English. Turns out that themovies/audio didn't work on that side either. I kept checking out thewindow to see how that side's engine was doing.

2. After a movie-less eleven hour flight, we were relieved tofinally touch down. There was a long announcement in Mandarin, and agroan which I assumed meant we would have to wait a few minutes on theBejing tarmac before offloading. The local time was about 6PM, so Ifigured even though I had to change terminals, I could still catch myconnection to Lianyungang at 7:20PM. Even so, I was a little worried,so I got up to try and plead my case for being let out a little earlyleading to the following faux-Chinese Abbot and Costello routinebetween me and a very baffled flight attendant (VBFA).

Me: I have a connection to Lianyungang at 7:20 - can you let me out alittle early please?VBFA: The weather - Bejing is bad.Me: Uh huh. I have a connection to make at 7:20, can you help me?VBFA: (baffled) Bejing weather is not good.Me: But we're already IN Bejing!VBFA: (even more baffled). WEATHER BAD!Me: ALREADY IN BEJING!Me: (staring, baffled)VBFA: (baffled)Me: Ok. I'll just go sit down now.

Now, you might think I am an idiot, because you know the end of thestory, but I swear, at the time me and the other non-mandarin fluentpassengers thought we were in Bejing. Finally, a guy a few rowsbehind me blew our minds by telling us we were in someplace calledShen Yang. Hm.

3. Outline of the rest of the time:

• 2h go by. Still on tarmac in Shen Yang• Instruction to gather our belongs and prepare to de-board, followedby no less than an hour and a half of us all standing ridiculouslywith our bags in the aisles, not moving.• Instruction to put away our bags and prepare to take off. Wait 2 hours.• Plane backs up 5 feet. Wait an hour.• Instruction to stand up.• Instruction to sit down (I swear I’m not making this up.)• The plane was out of food by that point, so they brought us somecrackers with three layers – cracker/butter filling/cracker/lemon zestfilling/cracker. Gut-turning. As a more experienced traveler wouldlater tell me that night – “never eat a ‘filling’ in China.”• Plane finally deboards, but they won’t let us leave the baggagearea, though they have supposedly arranged a hotel for us. At leastan hour goes by. Turns out there are about 30-40 passengers on theplane without Chinese Visas, who CAN’T LEGALLY LEAVE THE CUSTOMSCHECKPOINT. (Ala “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks).• Finally, since these passengers can’t leave we REBOARD THE PLANE!• Go back through security, I kid you not. I even got patted down.• Wait.• Fly to Bejing!! Arrive at about 5AM local time, vs. expectedarrival of 4PM the previous day.

So what was the weather situation? Never explained. My personalfeeling is that they were having mechanical problems (maybe on theleft side of the plane?), but we’ll never know. Thankfully, uponlanding the flight crew apologized “for any inconvenience.”

And THAT, my friends is why I am still in Bejing.

In case you were wondering.

PS – ticket counter where I modified my flight had a picture of Santaon the wall, a full size glittery head. I didn’t inquire.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

First, a confession: I don’t typically enjoy other people’s travel blogs. I think the reasons are compound, namely:

1. I’m jealous. There I said it2. Uh…. Well, mostly reason 1.

I guess I could complain that its boring and monotonous to read about how my friends went to an exotic locale, ate “this,” saw “that,” had a “great time” etc, but the simple fact is pretty much just jealousy. So why would I write a blog while traveling in China for the next three weeks?

Maybe just to try and make you jealous!

First a little background. To finish my MBA I still need 12 elective credits. The program at PSU really believes that international experience is a critical piece of an MBA, so they motivate students to complete some of their course work overseas via the following carrots:

1. 8 credits in two weeks instead of three months.2. Same price as taking the classes in Portland.

Not a lot of downside, other than time away from the family, and abandoning work in the middle of a high pressure situation that I helped create. (hm. I guess that’s a pretty heavy downside, but I digress).

My itinerary – first a little professional business, visiting a vendor in Lianyungong (6h drive N of Shanghai), then two days in Shanghai (hopefully going to visit the worlds fair), followed by a week in Guangzhou (my first class = “Supply Chains in China”), and a week in Bejing (second class = “marketing in China”).So here we go.

I’m currently sitting in the Portland airport (may their free wifi be forever blessed) working on my “traveler” face. I like to think of it as the “dull stare of the dairy cow” (phrase courtesy of Gary Larson). It’s a look that says, “don’t worry about me. My soul died on the road a long time ago. Let’s all just go about our business. Four hour delay. No problem. I’m just existing through this.”

I perfected this look on a previous trip, a 27h start to finish odyssey to Ireland on business.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Our homeschool preschool co-op winds down this month. For various reasons, it was actually quite difficult to get the darn thing started last fall, and the group has morphed over time. Eventually it settled into a very small group - 3 little girls (and 2 younger sibs - James being the lone boy in all of this!), and the 3 moms rotated teaching one morning a week. We ran it like a real mini-preschool to the best of our abilities. Looking back, it was a great experience for us all and the girls really bonded. That was my main hope in this process - that Daphne would find close friends, and maybe pick up a few skills along the way. By this standard, I'd say the experiment was a rousing success.

Daphne's got one more year left before kindergarten and we decided to send her to a regular preschool this coming fall. But at least I was able to save hundreds on tuition this year, which makes my frugal heart happy :)

Meanwhile, I know that we will be seeing more of these girls this summer and beyond.

About Me

This is our family blog (since 2008) that sort of merged into a Luxembourg blog when we moved here in May 2012. We are not technically "expats" - more like "immigrants" as we are here indefinitely with Pete's job at Amazon, and the kids are immersed in Luxembourgish public school. As aspiring minimalists, we try to live simply, enjoying the present and each other. Our European adventures are small and simple, our entertainment thresholds quite low, and we like it that way.

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